London Colt History needed

Well i dont know about the SA Colt but i have a Antique DA Colt Frontier thats
455 ELEY Which is basicaly 455 MKI ammo shoots in it fine.
The frame on the Colt Frontier is Quite strong and it can handle the newer ammo but i still only load 5 grs of unique in the longer 455 colt Domion cases.

Anyway going by my Colt 455 Eley Marked gun 455 colt Domion ammo fits fine and is the longest 455 case made.
 
Last edited:
455 ELEY is the same as 455 COLT or WEBLEY. Colt refused to put a competitor's name, in this case Webley, on their products. Check proofhouse.com for serial number data.
 
As stated already, 455 Eley ... .455 Webley MkI ... .455 Colt - different names for the same cartridge -

455c_e_w.jpg


Colt first established a London sales office/depot in 1851, located at 1, Spring Gardens, Cockspur Street. On March 31, 1855, the operation was moved to larger quarters at 14 Pall Mall. In 1892, the office again moved, to 26 Glasshouse Street, Picadilly, then back to 15A Pall Mall from 1904 through July 1913, when the Agency finally closed.

An in-depth compilation of information on this subject can be found in "Colt Peacemaker British Model" by Colt collector/writer Keith Cochran, one of a series of books written and published by him. If you own the revolver you are asking about, you'd be well advised to add this volume to your reference library ...
"Colt Peacemaker British Model" at alibris

BritishColtCover_sm.jpg


I relied heavily upon the information and pictures in my copy when I created a casing for a reprouction Colt Peacemaker, in the style done by the Colt London Agency:

open3.jpg
 
GrantR said:
As stated already, 455 Eley ... .455 Webley MkI ... .455 Colt - different names for the same cartridge -

I relied heavily upon the information and pictures in my copy when I created a casing for a reprouction Colt Peacemaker, in the style done by the Colt London Agency:

open3.jpg
Click to expand...
Thanks Grant don't own the gun yet as seller is asking $5000. I am in the process of getting a couple of Keith's books.
Nice gun and box
Meanea
 
Hey Meana -

Leroy Merz (in MN) has a .455 colt saa that is a bit cheaper (in the $3750 US range (they do go dicker on prices as well). According to some information that I have - they built 1150 of them in .455.

I had a .450 boxer SAA that I recently sold in the $2500 US range - those old English colts are out there. They also built some in .476 eley (approximately 161) - which is one of the rarest calibers.

Good luck with your British SAA collection.

Rick
 
It appears that .450 Eley was definitely the most common caliber, with .455 Eley second, and but a "smattering" in .380 Eley, .450 Boxer and .476 Eley. (Of non-British chamberings, there were just a very few - apparently all Flattop Long-grip Models - twenty-four in .44 S&W, and one in .22 W.R.F. .....

If you get Cochran's "British Model" book, you'll have full access to all of this information, of course, but I'll add the the following summary of quantities of "British Model" Colt single action revolvers:

Total of all Models - 5,334 (only about 1.3% of the total number of revolvers manufactured.)

Total of 4,738 "Peacemakers" -
- "Pre-Pall Mall Model" (1874 to late 1876) - 728
- Pall Mall Model (3-1/4" address - 1876-1878) - 519
- Pall Mall Model (2-1/2" address - 1878-18792)) - 2, 629
- "Post-Pall Mall Model (1892-c.1906) - 862

Flattop Model & Flatttop Long-grip Model - 215

Bisley Target Model (1894-1912) - 196

Bisley Standard-frame Model (1895-1912) - 185

He does go on to show further breakdowns by both caliber and barrel length - if you're interested, and want to get it before receiving your own copy of the book, I could scan those details for you (.... I'm definitely too lazy to type all of it out! ;) )
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom